Generally, vehicle headlamps include a lamp housing adapted to engage a bulb, a reflector attached to a front surface of the lamp housing for reflecting the light of the bulb, and a lens provided in front of the reflector and the bulb and engaged with the lamp housing. Often, an insertion groove is formed in a front surface of a rim of the lamp housing. An insertion end is formed in a back surface of the rim of the lens. The insertion end of the lens is inserted into the insertion groove of the lamp housing, and a gap between the insertion end and the insertion groove is sealed using a certain sealant. Thus, finishing an engagement between the lamp housing and the lens.
When the headlamp is engaged to a vehicle in an assembling line, a lower side of the lens of the headlamp contacts with a bumper cover, a lateral end of the lens contacts with a front end of the fender, and the upper end makes contact with a hood panel.
According to an engaging structure between the conventional headlamp and a vehicle body in Japanese patent laid-open No. 2002-326585, a hole is formed in a protrusion member attached to a headlamp and a hole formed in a lower side of a fender are aligned with each other. The protrusion portion is then inserted into the holes for achieving an engaged structure. Additionally, according to the Japanese patent laid-open No. 2002-264745, a fender and a lamp housing are engaged with respect to a bumper casing and a gap and a step formed due to the engagement are decreased. According to the Japanese patent laid-open No. Hei 8-119030, a gap formed between a front surface fender and a finish is prevented using a piece. In addition, according to the Japanese patent laid-open no. Hei 6-144107, a hole is formed in a vehicle body and a protrusion formed in a lamp casing is inserted into the hole, so that a gap formed in the lamp is decreased.
Conventionally, clearance is maintained between the lens and the fender by a flange having a size of about 4˜5 mm that is integrally formed in a front end of the fender 10. A hole-processing flange has a length of about 12 mm and is longitudinally formed at an intermediate portion of the flange. In addition, a protruded guide boss is integrally formed in a back surface of the rim of the lamp housing. Therefore, when assembling the lamp, the guide boss, integrally formed in the back surface of the rim of the lamp housing, is inserted through the hole of the hole processing flange so that the headlamp and the fender are assembled with each other. At the same time, a clearance between an end portion of the lateral side of the lens and a front end of the fender is uniformly maintained. At this time, a clearance of about 10 mm is formed between the front end of the fender and an end portion of the lateral side of the lens. However, actually a dummy section of 10 mm is formed in an end portion of the lateral side of the lens, so that the clearance of about 10 mm is effectively covered.
However, in the conventional art, the hole-processing flange of 12 mm should be additionally formed in the flange of the fender. In addition, since there is provided the hole-processing flange, the dummy section of about 10 mm should be additionally formed in an end portion of the lateral side of the lens. Therefore, mold processing is difficult and the fabrication cost is increased. In particular, since the dummy section (the portion contacting with the front end of the fender) of the lens does not belong to the range of a shape design, a visual outer appearance of the vehicle is significantly degraded.